Well I think then, if that is his goal, that he's naive and short-sighted. The governments of the world is a BROAD term, covering governments that have been around for a few hundred years, to countries (and their governments) and institutions that have been around a few thousand years. For the sake of argument, I'd single out the US government and I'm sorry but I'm jaded, I don't believe the US government is going to reach some kind of tipping point, whereby they'd put so many arbitrary roadblocks to information sharing (secret keeping) that they suddenly, collectively, have an epiphany and decide to scrap the whole thing and scale things back or dismantle what they've built altogether.
I understand what you're saying, and I understand now what his goal might be, and I understand that my initial assessment was off the mark, but I think it is Mr. Assange that is off the mark, woefully so, if he thinks he's going to push the government into "painting itself" into a "secret-keeping corner" thus causing it's collapse and/or failure. Seems like his ultimate goal is still transparency in government right? My contention is that a government NEEDS some level of discretion.
Well let me be one of those that goes against the common meme then. I don't support WikiLeaks, I think they're about as effective as pissing in a ceiling fan. And yes Assange is certainly a douche nozzle.
I'm saying I don't think the leaks are as important as he, and his followers/fans would have us believe. I've yet to see anything come to light that is truly a game changer. Not in the "I'm joe-cool, I already knew that" kind of way, just that, some things I've read are new to me, and others are like "yeah, and???". That's the thing. I think Mr. Assange has done a wonderful job making himself (the person) the focal point for WikiLeaks and I think that if there *was* ever any good to come of that organization, or idea, that it is better served by just putting the information up without spin, without editorializing it, without a lot of fuss. Just put it out there, let it speak for itself. I'm not a fan of WikiLeaks releasing government information, I freely admit that. Not because some Afghan villager will *possibly* get his nuts in a vise for talking to our troops, or because the Taliban will know the location of our troops 8 months ago, but because I'm pessimistic about the government actually *changing* anything. As in, I don't foresee any sweeping changes coming from the government as a result of these releases, so what's the fucking point? Airing dirty laundry? Opening the stall door while the government has its pants down? For what? To mock them? Sure that's fine. But to get them to change their behavior? Sorry, I don't think it's going to happen. Color me jaded.
Since his background has been called into question, and will continue to do so, he's doing himself a disservice by trying to run the show, or direction of WikiLeaks. The more that he claims he wants transparency for the government's of the world, the less he should be surprised and/or upset when the sword cuts in the other direction and the parts of his life that he thought were private and/or trivial are brought to light. It's as though he was on this soapbox claiming foul for all these government secrets that have no real impact or bearing on how the government operates and is shocked when the spotlight gets put back on him. If the information released should speak for itself and I don't think it does. Not without constant attention.
Well that's the thing about people like you, who seem to want to have it both ways. On one hand you seem to want this information to be some epic unveililng of the "true" nature of governments of the world, as though the mere "existence" or revelation, would cause some kind of uproar or revolution. On the other hand, some of you claim that the information is all benign, known well already and is therefore harmless. Harmless in its existence and harmless in the damage it could potentially cause. So which is it? Is this information *really* that important, or are you another unwitting victim of WikiLeaks hype machine?
It seems to me that you're in the latter group. Personally I *don't* think any information they've released concerning the government is doing more good, than harm. I think these leaks are like a dropped rock in a pond, the effects of which will take some time to be felt. That might be good, that might be bad. But if I'd have to *guess* how things would go, I don't think these leaks will alter our reality. And, I never said I was the "right" guy for any job. Hear that? That's the sound of my point rushing right past your head.
What BS is WikiLeaks exposing? Diplomatic cables that amount to high school gossip amongst various "cliques"? Oh the horror. Video footage of soldiers doing their job, with the Leftist spin as though they were just *looking* for targets to light up on a whim? Please. Gimme a fucking break. I don't trust "slightly crazy" people with anything. The fact that you do, speaks volumes.
And I never said this guy's antics were "easy" or the best way to go about earning a buck in this world, once again, you've missed the point. The point is that he's the wrong person to be running the show, calling the shots. If you're a fame whore, power hungry and egotistical, I wouldn't trust you to polish my shoes, let alone airing the governments dirty laundry in public. And more importantly, all he's done is made himself a VERY easy target. If he were on some truly altruistic crusade, he should have released this information quietly, without drawing attention to himself. But he didn't, so neither you, nor him, should be surprised when large groups of angry people seize on anything and everything they can in his past background that paints him as a "less than stellar" person. The focus is on him. Not the issues at hand. And the issues at hand don't stand on their own very well without constant media attention and hype.
And this is what happens when you make *this* kind of guy, the figurehead of your cause. The focus becomes the man, and not what he and his organization were trying to do. I fault him for this. Not because he leaked his dating profile or even *had* a dating profile, but because he *relishes* the power and control he has over WikiLeaks and as such clearly has an agenda of his own. What's wrong with that? Well, when you get on a soapbox and start yapping about how you're unveiling this sordid world of lies and backroom handshakes of various governments of the world, and claiming some kind of moral or ethical superiority, don't be surprised when every piddly thing you've ever done in life comes under a microscope.
He's like a candidate running for political office. Blissfully unaware that that bong hit, or naked photo of them in college will someday come round to haunt them. And moreover, he's unaware that for all his leaks, at least as far as government leaks are concerned, it's all for not. What's going to change? Security protocols and the methods by which they select who has access to data, where and when. That's about it. Personnel changes, that's what these leaks are going to change.
If it were truly about being transparent, then it would have been better to leak these documents in any number of other outlets. Without the prestige, hand-waving and bullshit agenda, presented as "freedom" or some kind of informational liberation. As in, oh *gasp* the governments of the world are acting in their own best interests, as opposed to the interests of those that put them in power... shock... horror. Wake up. That's reality. Is it a sad one? Sure. But are these leaks going to "change the world"? Not in the long term. In the short term, it's a nice news story and not much more. When the focus is on you the individual, the message you'd hoped to convey gets lost. If his leaks were really as epic and world changing as he and his organization would have us believe, they should stand on their own merits. And they don't.
Hate to break it to you there bud but replacing tubes in RF transmitters is far from a job that takes an "hour or two".
I work for a TV station here in Los Angeles and I assure you there's more to swapping tubes than just popping them in and turning the transmitter back on.
First just installing the tube is no easy task, these things are designed with specially tuned cavities that usually require two people lifting/twisting heavy metal parts in and out of the cabinet. These parts cannot be banged around or damaged in any way. Once the old tube is out, you still have to go through the process of putting all that heavy shit back together.
Once you're done with all that (oh look 4 hours has gone by), now you're ready to sweep and tune the tube. Bust out your handy dandy rectum spanalyzer (oh sorry, Spectrum Analyzer for you laymen). So even though you took pain staking care to mark where and how your cavity was put together and where all the tuning rods are, you'll still spend another few hours tuning the god damned thing.
So to make short story long, no, it's not a matter of a few hours. It's more than likely closer to 8 to 12 hours, and a LOT longer if anything else is bad. Have you seen what even a 10kw tube arcing through it's cavity looks like? It's NOT pretty.
As a real guitar player (playing for 16 years) I think it's great that the game inspires people to pick up the instrument (or any instrument for that matter) in the real world.
However, what I've noticed is that people assume because you can play real guitar, that you should RIP at Guitar Hero. In my case, nothing could be further from the truth. As a guitar player you're used to certain things. Throw in a game controller and it's mechanics and while at face value it looks similar, it just isn't.
I think a lot of people that pick up the guitar and try to learn on it (aside from the guy above who seems like he's enjoying it), will find that there's a VERY steep learning curve. It's hard, it takes a LOT of practice and perserverence. It's an instrument that you get "out" of it, what you put "into" it. Like anything else.
All I know is that I think a lot of these people that "plan" on trying to learn the instrument for real will be wholly disappointed at their progress when they're not playing Crazy Train or Sweet Child O' Mine after day 2.
I can't speak for everywhere obviously, but here in Los Angeles pulling the plug on the analog transmissions is a big big deal. Not just because of Southern California's population but because of it's LATINO population.
I work in this industry for a Low Power Analog TV station (one that broadcasts on 4 different stations locally and a bunch more across the country). And the transition represents about 80% of my workload lately (I do broadcast engineering and IT).
But back on point, a LOT and I mean like hundreds of thousands of Latino families in the area rely on OTA transmissions. When you pull their plug, you might say "great, now they can go outside, read a book, etc" but in reality they're not tuned in. So that means advertising revenue dries up for the station (as it has for ours and almost every other that caters to the Latino community as well as mainstream tv programming). That means more layoffs and so on down the line.
Speaking for my company and other smaller players this delay is a good thing. Eventually the analog stations will go away and that's fine and eventually the low power guys like myself will have a concrete deadline too, and that's fine as well. Just remember though, millions have cable, direcTV, Dish, etc but there are still MORE than a few out there that really rely on plain vanilla over the air TV broadcast.
Yes, as stupid as it sounds I actually put myself on there to go to Mars (one way trip) via Ebay auction. I was hoping that someone somewhere might see it as an exploratory mission but one that was important enough to try.
Looking back it was pretty much the most dumbfucked thing I could do (at least as a serious attempt to go is concerned). I never made it but I did get a response from someone (rightfully) calling me a loon. Bear in mind though, that I believe people SHOULD explore outer space, and that its not that life is so bad here on Earth, or to *escape* anything, so much as it is important for us to recognize that exploration (albeit in a maccabre kind of way) knowing that you won't be coming back is still valid.
Or maybe I just hit my head a little too hard that day (mentioned in earlier post today).
I used to be into BMX bike riding, I stress "used to". Anyway, one day at the track I was riding, went off a jump, lost control and came down on my face. I was wearing a helmet but NOT a full face helmet.
Anyway, I lost that day almost completely from my memory banks. I can't remember going to work or being in a bad mood there (apparently I was exceptionally grouchy... serves me right) I can't remember going to the track and most disturbing to me, I cannot remember the jump I did or what exactly went wrong. Some kids said they saw me and told my friend about it. They said when I went off the jump I lost my balance mid-air and started coming down wrong. I landed on my face and put my two front teeth through my upper lip, knocked myself out cold and actually wet myself (pissed my pants).
My girlfriend at the time came to the track and took me to the hospital where I got stitched up. So that day was like I said, almost completely wiped from my memory. Oh and incidentally, when asked at the ER what year it was, I was convinced it was 2002 when in fact it was 2003.
Anyway, just my antectodal story, and after that I rode again but my wheels were shot and I lost all courage to try and do jumps, etc. I still ride but it's *chill style* and the most I'll do is jump little curb cuts. What irritates me most about it is NOT remembering what exactly went wrong. Yes those kids telling my friend helped but losing my balance mid-air? Just never happened to me up till that point so it never sat well with my mind. Usually when you bail, you KNOW what you did or were doing wrong (in this activity anyway) but since I couldn't remember it I was never the same on the bike thereafter.
I live in Los Angeles and commute 30 miles to work one way. It takes me an hour or more on most days, less at very early hours (pre 5AM). I've made a little mental hobby of traffic pattern prediction and on my route I can accurately predict where the slowdowns will be, and know which lanes to be in on the freeway in order to keep moving. I also know that the pattern changes from time to time and for various reasons and account for that as well.
By far the biggest problem with traffic here, other than the staggering number of people on the roads, is a false sense of entitlement and/or lack of courtesy for other drivers. I start my drive from a decent neighborhood and go through a pretty big slice of the city hitting East LA, Korea Town, West LA and downtown (including skid row and not in that order). It's not just soccer moms, it's not just the elderly, it's not just the Asians or the Latinos or the Blacks or the Whites or anything. It's ALL of them. For every decent driver out there, there's literally a thousand or more assholes. I moved here from Boston 10 years ago and I remember thinking "what's all this road rage shit I hear about?". How could you possibly get so worked up in your car that you'd want to KILL other drivers. Well I've seen it myself first hand out here.
About a month or so ago a Mom was killed and possibly her 2 kids as well (not sure) because 2 guys were fighting with each other on a busy surface street. One would hit the gas and then the brakes trying to get the other to rear end him or cutting the other off from getting in a lane or passing. Oh and by the way, yes one guy was about 19... but the other guy? He was in his 40s. You'd think after a certain *I'm invincible* phase people would grow up and mellow out. Most do, but some don't and some just want to go about their business, but when they're pushed, they push back. This is where I fit in. I mind my business and I try to drive quickly and efficiently without being too much of a jerk about cutting people off and I try to let people in when they need to. In other words, I *try* to be a courteous driver. If I'm in the fast lane out here with no one ahead of me, I'll be doing 90 easily, but if someone comes up behind me in a faster car, or just generally wants to drive faster than me, I'll move the fuck out of the way. I pay attention to my surroundings and I realize I'm not driving the fastest car on the road. Same applies no matter what lane I'm in on the freeway. I get the fuck out of the way, safely, efficiently and without waiting an hour. So few people do that here it's sad.
You say "drive the speed limit" its the law, it's there for a reason. I say, fuck off, I'll drive as fast as I think I can go safely. If I feel safe at 90, then I'm going to go 90. If I think it's safe at 40, I'm going to go 40. But I'm damned sure not going to BLOCK traffic or try to be the amateur police force by sitting in a lane, driving much slower than necessary and making it hard or next to impossible for anyone to get around me. I'm simply going to move OUT OF THE WAY. As for distances between cars, I try to leave plenty of room to stop, meaning at least 2 or 3 car lengths depending... BUT, here's the thing out here. You just CANNOT leave the 3 seconds or more of room that you'd like and still get anywhere. We're all not on a plane. We all don't *get there* at the same time. And yes, I think it's reasonable to assume that most people just want to get to where they're going in the least amount of time safely. Not necessarily in a mad rush. Not race day at the Daytona 500, but relatively quickly. And yet, if you try to observe the simple 3 second rule and leave a nice gap between you and the car in front of you, you get stepped on. Not cut off, but you'll get bumped back, again and again and again.
Traffic out here is like a line at the bank. Would you, in person, stand in line at the bank and let anyone cut in front of you simply because you didn't take a step or two forward when the person in front
Well in today's business climate, I'd be tempted to say that some company or investor would be interested in "sponsoring" such a project and overlooking the obvious suicidal overtones for the sake of technology, patents, discoveries being kept in their name or kept in their control. Imagine if some biological discovery is made there, or by some miracle, some technological discovery or method is discovered... it could mean big things for any company or individual involved. So, I'm taking up your suggestion. I'm going to put myself on eBay and see if someone or some company is interested in sponsoring a trip there. It's not about intentionally going there to die, or to escape this planet, it's about science, it's about discovery, it's about furthering human knowledge and the chance to be a part of that, is what it's all about.
Can someone please explain to me (and this is NOT meant to be a troll-post) why someone can't volunteer for a manned mission to Mars, raise funding from private companies/organizations and just go to Mars? Yes it would be a suicide mission, known up front and with the intent of it being for pure research and in the name of science, why the hell couldn't someone hit up a few big businesses and/or private investors for the cash to make a ship, buy or make the equipment for data analysis and the necessary supplies to get there and transmit back pictures and data? And more than just the Mars Rover, being able to survey the planet much faster and with more detail.
Is NASA a governing body in the sense that they can mandate who can go into space and moreover, where in space? It is my understanding that when Columbus wanted to find a route to the far East, he submitted his plans to various people and it took two or three tries before they finally granted him the money and ships he needed and I read that some of the terms of the agreement were such that they (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella) didn't expect him back... why not something similar for Mars? Setting aside things like training, time to build a ship, and most importantly cost, can it be done? Privately? And no, not the Astronaut Farmer-type thing. I'm talking about a legitimate, scientific exploration, in the name of pure science and discovery, privately funded, privately built and controlled, government and nationally independent.
Hasn't this argument been beaten to death already? Maybe I'm wrong, and yes I'm over simplifying but basically it comes down to this: Science tries to explain *how* things happened, Faith tries to explain *why* things happened. At least in terms of planetary history. Personally, I'm interested in both how and why things happen the way they do. Most times, in my experience, science does a better job at explaining how things are happening and sometimes why they happen. I lost my faith in faith around the time I started asking questions and got back a lot of crappy answers. However, I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of *some* kind of creative force simply because we may not have the tools to demonstrate or understand it fully.
OK, to be on topic, I'd say this thing is a work of art. Extremely cool, but extremely expensive. Holy shit, I never realized Lego stuff could sell for that much ($499.99).
Now, slightly off-topic, one thing that bugged me about the Star Wars prequels (among many many things) was the ships. They were all polished, aerodynamic, made of what seemed like crazy materials, etc. Yes I know they were going out of their way to show off the design capabilities and to add something fresh, but it made the ships all look so cheesy and fake. I mean, I remember one ship, though I don't know what it's name is, that looked like it was dipped in chrome. Not just parts of the ship, THE WHOLE THING. But it wasn't just that ship, it was almost all of them.
That irritated me because these were movies that were *supposed* to be about the past, the past in the Star Wars universe, PRIOR to IV, V and VI. And almost ALL of the ships in IV, V and VI all had rough edges, weird, not-always-symmetrical geometry, etc. They looked real, like real physical objects (yes I know they were, or were models), they looked like something someone would put together.... not some draftsmans proto-type look-alike for the latest rehash of super slick, polished turds that were the ships of I, II and III. In other words, we're expected to believe (in the Star Wars Universe) that designers and engineers decided that all these super polished and aerodynamic ships weren't up to snuff, so they scrapped and took 4 steps backwards design-wise to create the ships in IV, V and VI.
They're well within their rights to protest the game as far as I'm concerned, the VA and/or local commanders may have other views. I however, do not agree with them and believe part of making an informed decision about joining the military should not in the least be influenced by playing an "Army Simulation". Get information from every source you can about joining BEFORE your sign up, choose a path that suits you and your talents and go from there. War is not a game, it's not a joke, but it exists regardless of whether you want it to or not. The game exists and whether or not it is designed to be a "simulator" which with today's technology could only loosely be called a "simulation", or just a game for fun's sake, is beside point. I say let it go...
The PS3 can work with the PSP to allow remote play. You put your game into your PS3, put it in suspend or hibernate (or whatever the hell they call it), then you go somewhere with wi-fi, fire up your PSP and connect back to your PS3 and play the game. Check out this link which shows a video of the game in action and another description of it:
Personally I don't care too much for the PS3 as a whole, price and lack of games being the two biggest issues, but if Sony or Microsoft could figure out a way to make this work for all kinds of games (not just Lair), or better still, incorporate real online multiplayer capabilities, that would make me buy one REGARDLESS of price. Sony taking a hit on these PS3's has so far managed to make them offer a technically superior product at a (hopefully) decreasing price and tying it into their portable player, which I think is a very good thing!
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Why bother telling them which OS you run if it's anything *other* than what came pre-loaded on the system? If I had a hardware issue, big or small, and I called Tech Support for a place like Dell, HP/Compaq, etc, and they asked what I was running for an OS I'd happily lie to them and tell them it was Windows XP or whatever came pre-loaded.
It's the same thing dealing with Tech Support idiots in other countries who can't deviate from a script. They ask if I've done X, Y, Z and I gladly pretend as though I'm going through those exact steps until I reach the point in their script where they either need to escalate the issue or issue an RMA or pickup for repairs.
I'm not saying this lady is an idiot, but come on, have some common sense!!! If you call some PC manufacturer with a hardware issue, and they ask you what OS you're running, tell em' it's all stock. Same with cars. These companies work hard to fuck you out of your money and would love to dismiss your claim for support (however warranted), for any reason they can.
In short: "...If someone asks you if you're a God, you say YES!!!"
I live in Los Angeles. I spend two and a half hours each day commuting to work (roundtrip). I spend most of that time period cursing and bitching about how I hate all of humanity out here. I also spend copious amounts of time playing Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox Live. If it weren't for the stress relief that PGR3 and other racing games provide, I may be tempted to take out my daily commute frustrations by driving like a dick. For the most part though, driving like an asshole is reserved for video games only. I tend to think driving sims and racing games in general may help some idiots drive like idiots in the real world, I think the majority of asshole drivers would drive that way regardless. I think that most people over the age of 16 or so, know the difference between video games and the real world, especially when it comes to something like driving games. Hit a car in PGR3 doing 120 and you get a little dent and some time added to your race, hit a car in real life doing 120 and you'll be unlucky to live (either in jail or horribly disfigured) and probably wish you'd died anyway.
Oh and for the record, any "race car driver wannabee" worth his salt knows that GTA is NOT a racing game. Yeah it's got cars in it and yes you can drive them with reckless abandon, but for me, that's not *racing*.
Anyone want to hit me up in PGR3 or Forza2 when it comes out, my gamertag is: orbus451
Sounds reasonable from a business standpoint, BUT, I'll bet it costs a lot less to have some people in India pick up the phone and go through the refund process and effectively sidestep the whole issue than it would be to make a refund process easy and effective. Why not then, just offer a credit. Option one - new dell pc, you select "no windows" or "no O/S" they give you a credit of say $40 off the price, optione two - new dell pc, you select "no O/S, credit towards peripherals" they give you a credit of $60 that CAN ONLY be used as an avenue to sell you other crap or to put towards other crap, be it speakers, upgraded mice, more memory, printer of the week, etc... that way you get more for your dollar, you get an upgraded machine and/or peripheral for less money, everyone goes home happy??? Sounds good to me! I think there's quite a few people out there that'd be happy to have a PC with no O/S on, that they could then take to their friendly neighborhood tech guy or family member to install Win2K, or a cracked version of XP for 1/2 of what it'd cost in time and hardship to try and get any cash out of Dell directly as opposed to them just buying the system without the fuss, with the extra money saved put towards something else that Dell immediately gets the sale on. The credit in option two above would be a one time deal, not something people could just sit on... Anyway, just an idea.
Is it Microsoft or Dell themselves that *require* you to purchase one of their PC's with an O/S? If it's up to Dell at all, my suggestion to them would be to just have that as an option when ordering via phone or internet. Subtract whatever minimal amount they want and thereby save us and them some grief and some money in the process.
What a bunch of shit. People would/should feel bad about kicking dogs and other helpless animals because animals have feelings. Animals can sense danger and usually react instinctively to protect themselves. How would a robot know that it was actually being attacked, hurt or degraded? It would have to be "programmed" to know that such an action had occurred and then have a programmed response (i.e. self-defense, cry out as if in physical pain, march in protest on Washington). When we have sufficient knowledge to create robots that are self aware, self taught, self learning AND have the ability to feel and think emotionally, not just instinctively, then, and only then, should we give a shit what "rights" robots have as an organism. We can't even give all the humans on this fucking planet the same "rights" and we're talking about being worried about giving robots their rights because someone might kick the ever living shit out of an Aibo??? The whole issue seems pretty silly right now.
Here's an idea that might or might not have already been written about.
What if the Voyager (or any man-made probe) passed this *unknown* point in space, got sucked into a blackhole and dumped to another part of space time entirely. So far forward, backward or elsewhere in time/space that it was discovered by Aliens, who subsequently came to our planet to check things out.
But they arrive in our primordial past and populate the Earth with a hybrid alien/animal mix. Making what would eventually become us humans?
Yes I know, far fetched and whatnot, but like I said, just an idea... and a question in there somewhere.
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Well I think then, if that is his goal, that he's naive and short-sighted. The governments of the world is a BROAD term, covering governments that have been around for a few hundred years, to countries (and their governments) and institutions that have been around a few thousand years. For the sake of argument, I'd single out the US government and I'm sorry but I'm jaded, I don't believe the US government is going to reach some kind of tipping point, whereby they'd put so many arbitrary roadblocks to information sharing (secret keeping) that they suddenly, collectively, have an epiphany and decide to scrap the whole thing and scale things back or dismantle what they've built altogether.
I understand what you're saying, and I understand now what his goal might be, and I understand that my initial assessment was off the mark, but I think it is Mr. Assange that is off the mark, woefully so, if he thinks he's going to push the government into "painting itself" into a "secret-keeping corner" thus causing it's collapse and/or failure. Seems like his ultimate goal is still transparency in government right? My contention is that a government NEEDS some level of discretion.
Well let me be one of those that goes against the common meme then. I don't support WikiLeaks, I think they're about as effective as pissing in a ceiling fan. And yes Assange is certainly a douche nozzle.
I'm saying I don't think the leaks are as important as he, and his followers/fans would have us believe. I've yet to see anything come to light that is truly a game changer. Not in the "I'm joe-cool, I already knew that" kind of way, just that, some things I've read are new to me, and others are like "yeah, and???". That's the thing. I think Mr. Assange has done a wonderful job making himself (the person) the focal point for WikiLeaks and I think that if there *was* ever any good to come of that organization, or idea, that it is better served by just putting the information up without spin, without editorializing it, without a lot of fuss. Just put it out there, let it speak for itself. I'm not a fan of WikiLeaks releasing government information, I freely admit that. Not because some Afghan villager will *possibly* get his nuts in a vise for talking to our troops, or because the Taliban will know the location of our troops 8 months ago, but because I'm pessimistic about the government actually *changing* anything. As in, I don't foresee any sweeping changes coming from the government as a result of these releases, so what's the fucking point? Airing dirty laundry? Opening the stall door while the government has its pants down? For what? To mock them? Sure that's fine. But to get them to change their behavior? Sorry, I don't think it's going to happen. Color me jaded.
Since his background has been called into question, and will continue to do so, he's doing himself a disservice by trying to run the show, or direction of WikiLeaks. The more that he claims he wants transparency for the government's of the world, the less he should be surprised and/or upset when the sword cuts in the other direction and the parts of his life that he thought were private and/or trivial are brought to light. It's as though he was on this soapbox claiming foul for all these government secrets that have no real impact or bearing on how the government operates and is shocked when the spotlight gets put back on him. If the information released should speak for itself and I don't think it does. Not without constant attention.
Well that's the thing about people like you, who seem to want to have it both ways. On one hand you seem to want this information to be some epic unveililng of the "true" nature of governments of the world, as though the mere "existence" or revelation, would cause some kind of uproar or revolution. On the other hand, some of you claim that the information is all benign, known well already and is therefore harmless. Harmless in its existence and harmless in the damage it could potentially cause. So which is it? Is this information *really* that important, or are you another unwitting victim of WikiLeaks hype machine?
It seems to me that you're in the latter group. Personally I *don't* think any information they've released concerning the government is doing more good, than harm. I think these leaks are like a dropped rock in a pond, the effects of which will take some time to be felt. That might be good, that might be bad. But if I'd have to *guess* how things would go, I don't think these leaks will alter our reality. And, I never said I was the "right" guy for any job. Hear that? That's the sound of my point rushing right past your head.
What BS is WikiLeaks exposing? Diplomatic cables that amount to high school gossip amongst various "cliques"? Oh the horror. Video footage of soldiers doing their job, with the Leftist spin as though they were just *looking* for targets to light up on a whim? Please. Gimme a fucking break. I don't trust "slightly crazy" people with anything. The fact that you do, speaks volumes.
And I never said this guy's antics were "easy" or the best way to go about earning a buck in this world, once again, you've missed the point. The point is that he's the wrong person to be running the show, calling the shots. If you're a fame whore, power hungry and egotistical, I wouldn't trust you to polish my shoes, let alone airing the governments dirty laundry in public. And more importantly, all he's done is made himself a VERY easy target. If he were on some truly altruistic crusade, he should have released this information quietly, without drawing attention to himself. But he didn't, so neither you, nor him, should be surprised when large groups of angry people seize on anything and everything they can in his past background that paints him as a "less than stellar" person. The focus is on him. Not the issues at hand. And the issues at hand don't stand on their own very well without constant media attention and hype.
And this is what happens when you make *this* kind of guy, the figurehead of your cause. The focus becomes the man, and not what he and his organization were trying to do.
I fault him for this. Not because he leaked his dating profile or even *had* a dating profile, but because he *relishes* the power and control he has over WikiLeaks and as such
clearly has an agenda of his own. What's wrong with that? Well, when you get on a soapbox and start yapping about how you're unveiling this sordid world of lies and backroom handshakes
of various governments of the world, and claiming some kind of moral or ethical superiority, don't be surprised when every piddly thing you've ever done in life comes under a microscope.
He's like a candidate running for political office. Blissfully unaware that that bong hit, or naked photo of them in college will someday come round to haunt them. And moreover, he's unaware that for all his leaks, at least
as far as government leaks are concerned, it's all for not. What's going to change? Security protocols and the methods by which they select who has access to data, where and when. That's about it. Personnel changes, that's what these leaks are going to change.
If it were truly about being transparent, then it would have been better to leak these documents in any number of other outlets. Without the prestige, hand-waving and bullshit agenda, presented as "freedom" or some kind of informational liberation. As in, oh *gasp* the governments of the world are acting in their own best interests, as opposed to the interests of those that put them in power... shock... horror. Wake up. That's reality. Is it a sad one? Sure. But are these leaks going to "change the world"? Not in the long term. In the short term, it's a nice news story and not much more. When the focus is on you the individual, the message you'd hoped to convey gets lost. If his leaks were really as epic and world changing as he and his organization would have us believe, they should stand on their own merits. And they don't.
Hate to break it to you there bud but replacing tubes in RF transmitters is far from a job that takes an "hour or two".
I work for a TV station here in Los Angeles and I assure you there's more to swapping tubes than just popping them in and turning the transmitter back on.
First just installing the tube is no easy task, these things are designed with specially tuned cavities that usually require two people lifting/twisting heavy metal parts in and out of the cabinet. These parts cannot be banged around or damaged in any way. Once the old tube is out, you still have to go through the process of putting all that heavy shit back together.
Once you're done with all that (oh look 4 hours has gone by), now you're ready to sweep and tune the tube. Bust out your handy dandy rectum spanalyzer (oh sorry, Spectrum Analyzer for you laymen). So even though you took pain staking care to mark where and how your cavity was put together and where all the tuning rods are, you'll still spend another few hours tuning the god damned thing.
So to make short story long, no, it's not a matter of a few hours. It's more than likely closer to 8 to 12 hours, and a LOT longer if anything else is bad. Have you seen what even a 10kw tube arcing through it's cavity looks like? It's NOT pretty.
As a real guitar player (playing for 16 years) I think it's great that the game inspires people to pick up the instrument (or any instrument for that matter) in the real world.
However, what I've noticed is that people assume because you can play real guitar, that you should RIP at Guitar Hero. In my case, nothing could be further from the truth. As a guitar player you're used to certain things. Throw in a game controller and it's mechanics and while at face value it looks similar, it just isn't.
I think a lot of people that pick up the guitar and try to learn on it (aside from the guy above who seems like he's enjoying it), will find that there's a VERY steep learning curve. It's hard, it takes a LOT of practice and perserverence. It's an instrument that you get "out" of it, what you put "into" it. Like anything else.
All I know is that I think a lot of these people that "plan" on trying to learn the instrument for real will be wholly disappointed at their progress when they're not playing Crazy Train or Sweet Child O' Mine after day 2.
I can't speak for everywhere obviously, but here in Los Angeles pulling the plug on the analog transmissions is a big big deal. Not just because of Southern California's population but because of it's LATINO population.
I work in this industry for a Low Power Analog TV station (one that broadcasts on 4 different stations locally and a bunch more across the country). And the transition represents about 80% of my workload lately (I do broadcast engineering and IT).
But back on point, a LOT and I mean like hundreds of thousands of Latino families in the area rely on OTA transmissions. When you pull their plug, you might say "great, now they can go outside, read a book, etc" but in reality they're not tuned in. So that means advertising revenue dries up for the station (as it has for ours and almost every other that caters to the Latino community as well as mainstream tv programming). That means more layoffs and so on down the line.
Speaking for my company and other smaller players this delay is a good thing. Eventually the analog stations will go away and that's fine and eventually the low power guys like myself will have a concrete deadline too, and that's fine as well. Just remember though, millions have cable, direcTV, Dish, etc but there are still MORE than a few out there that really rely on plain vanilla over the air TV broadcast.
Yes, as stupid as it sounds I actually put myself on there to go to Mars (one way trip) via Ebay auction. I was hoping that someone somewhere might see it as an exploratory mission but one that was important enough to try.
Looking back it was pretty much the most dumbfucked thing I could do (at least as a serious attempt to go is concerned). I never made it but I did get a response from someone (rightfully) calling me a loon. Bear in mind though, that I believe people SHOULD explore outer space, and that its not that life is so bad here on Earth, or to *escape* anything, so much as it is important for us to recognize that exploration (albeit in a maccabre kind of way) knowing that you won't be coming back is still valid.
Or maybe I just hit my head a little too hard that day (mentioned in earlier post today).
I used to be into BMX bike riding, I stress "used to". Anyway, one day at the track I was riding, went off a jump, lost control and came down on my face. I was wearing a helmet but NOT a full face helmet.
Anyway, I lost that day almost completely from my memory banks. I can't remember going to work or being in a bad mood there (apparently I was exceptionally grouchy... serves me right) I can't remember going to the track and most disturbing to me, I cannot remember the jump I did or what exactly went wrong. Some kids said they saw me and told my friend about it. They said when I went off the jump I lost my balance mid-air and started coming down wrong. I landed on my face and put my two front teeth through my upper lip, knocked myself out cold and actually wet myself (pissed my pants).
My girlfriend at the time came to the track and took me to the hospital where I got stitched up. So that day was like I said, almost completely wiped from my memory. Oh and incidentally, when asked at the ER what year it was, I was convinced it was 2002 when in fact it was 2003.
Anyway, just my antectodal story, and after that I rode again but my wheels were shot and I lost all courage to try and do jumps, etc. I still ride but it's *chill style* and the most I'll do is jump little curb cuts. What irritates me most about it is NOT remembering what exactly went wrong. Yes those kids telling my friend helped but losing my balance mid-air? Just never happened to me up till that point so it never sat well with my mind. Usually when you bail, you KNOW what you did or were doing wrong (in this activity anyway) but since I couldn't remember it I was never the same on the bike thereafter.
I live in Los Angeles and commute 30 miles to work one way. It takes me an hour or more on most days, less at very early hours (pre 5AM). I've made a little mental hobby of traffic pattern prediction and on my route I can accurately predict where the slowdowns will be, and know which lanes to be in on the freeway in order to keep moving. I also know that the pattern changes from time to time and for various reasons and account for that as well.
By far the biggest problem with traffic here, other than the staggering number of people on the roads, is a false sense of entitlement and/or lack of courtesy for other drivers. I start my drive from a decent neighborhood and go through a pretty big slice of the city hitting East LA, Korea Town, West LA and downtown (including skid row and not in that order). It's not just soccer moms, it's not just the elderly, it's not just the Asians or the Latinos or the Blacks or the Whites or anything. It's ALL of them. For every decent driver out there, there's literally a thousand or more assholes. I moved here from Boston 10 years ago and I remember thinking "what's all this road rage shit I hear about?". How could you possibly get so worked up in your car that you'd want to KILL other drivers. Well I've seen it myself first hand out here.
About a month or so ago a Mom was killed and possibly her 2 kids as well (not sure) because 2 guys were fighting with each other on a busy surface street. One would hit the gas and then the brakes trying to get the other to rear end him or cutting the other off from getting in a lane or passing. Oh and by the way, yes one guy was about 19... but the other guy? He was in his 40s. You'd think after a certain *I'm invincible* phase people would grow up and mellow out. Most do, but some don't and some just want to go about their business, but when they're pushed, they push back. This is where I fit in. I mind my business and I try to drive quickly and efficiently without being too much of a jerk about cutting people off and I try to let people in when they need to. In other words, I *try* to be a courteous driver. If I'm in the fast lane out here with no one ahead of me, I'll be doing 90 easily, but if someone comes up behind me in a faster car, or just generally wants to drive faster than me, I'll move the fuck out of the way. I pay attention to my surroundings and I realize I'm not driving the fastest car on the road. Same applies no matter what lane I'm in on the freeway. I get the fuck out of the way, safely, efficiently and without waiting an hour. So few people do that here it's sad.
You say "drive the speed limit" its the law, it's there for a reason. I say, fuck off, I'll drive as fast as I think I can go safely. If I feel safe at 90, then I'm going to go 90. If I think it's safe at 40, I'm going to go 40. But I'm damned sure not going to BLOCK traffic or try to be the amateur police force by sitting in a lane, driving much slower than necessary and making it hard or next to impossible for anyone to get around me. I'm simply going to move OUT OF THE WAY. As for distances between cars, I try to leave plenty of room to stop, meaning at least 2 or 3 car lengths depending... BUT, here's the thing out here. You just CANNOT leave the 3 seconds or more of room that you'd like and still get anywhere. We're all not on a plane. We all don't *get there* at the same time. And yes, I think it's reasonable to assume that most people just want to get to where they're going in the least amount of time safely. Not necessarily in a mad rush. Not race day at the Daytona 500, but relatively quickly. And yet, if you try to observe the simple 3 second rule and leave a nice gap between you and the car in front of you, you get stepped on. Not cut off, but you'll get bumped back, again and again and again.
Traffic out here is like a line at the bank. Would you, in person, stand in line at the bank and let anyone cut in front of you simply because you didn't take a step or two forward when the person in front
Well in today's business climate, I'd be tempted to say that some company or investor would be interested in "sponsoring" such a project and overlooking the obvious suicidal overtones for the sake of technology, patents, discoveries being kept in their name or kept in their control. Imagine if some biological discovery is made there, or by some miracle, some technological discovery or method is discovered... it could mean big things for any company or individual involved. So, I'm taking up your suggestion. I'm going to put myself on eBay and see if someone or some company is interested in sponsoring a trip there. It's not about intentionally going there to die, or to escape this planet, it's about science, it's about discovery, it's about furthering human knowledge and the chance to be a part of that, is what it's all about.
Can someone please explain to me (and this is NOT meant to be a troll-post) why someone can't volunteer for a manned mission to Mars, raise funding from private companies/organizations and just go to Mars? Yes it would be a suicide mission, known up front and with the intent of it being for pure research and in the name of science, why the hell couldn't someone hit up a few big businesses and/or private investors for the cash to make a ship, buy or make the equipment for data analysis and the necessary supplies to get there and transmit back pictures and data? And more than just the Mars Rover, being able to survey the planet much faster and with more detail.
Is NASA a governing body in the sense that they can mandate who can go into space and moreover, where in space? It is my understanding that when Columbus wanted to find a route to the far East, he submitted his plans to various people and it took two or three tries before they finally granted him the money and ships he needed and I read that some of the terms of the agreement were such that they (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella) didn't expect him back... why not something similar for Mars? Setting aside things like training, time to build a ship, and most importantly cost, can it be done? Privately? And no, not the Astronaut Farmer-type thing. I'm talking about a legitimate, scientific exploration, in the name of pure science and discovery, privately funded, privately built and controlled, government and nationally independent.
Hasn't this argument been beaten to death already? Maybe I'm wrong, and yes I'm over simplifying but basically it comes down to this: Science tries to explain *how* things happened, Faith tries to explain *why* things happened. At least in terms of planetary history. Personally, I'm interested in both how and why things happen the way they do. Most times, in my experience, science does a better job at explaining how things are happening and sometimes why they happen. I lost my faith in faith around the time I started asking questions and got back a lot of crappy answers. However, I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of *some* kind of creative force simply because we may not have the tools to demonstrate or understand it fully.
OK, to be on topic, I'd say this thing is a work of art. Extremely cool, but extremely expensive. Holy shit, I never realized Lego stuff could sell for that much ($499.99).
Now, slightly off-topic, one thing that bugged me about the Star Wars prequels (among many many things) was the ships. They were all polished, aerodynamic, made of what seemed like crazy materials, etc. Yes I know they were going out of their way to show off the design capabilities and to add something fresh, but it made the ships all look so cheesy and fake. I mean, I remember one ship, though I don't know what it's name is, that looked like it was dipped in chrome. Not just parts of the ship, THE WHOLE THING. But it wasn't just that ship, it was almost all of them.
That irritated me because these were movies that were *supposed* to be about the past, the past in the Star Wars universe, PRIOR to IV, V and VI. And almost ALL of the ships in IV, V and VI all had rough edges, weird, not-always-symmetrical geometry, etc. They looked real, like real physical objects (yes I know they were, or were models), they looked like something someone would put together.... not some draftsmans proto-type look-alike for the latest rehash of super slick, polished turds that were the ships of I, II and III. In other words, we're expected to believe (in the Star Wars Universe) that designers and engineers decided that all these super polished and aerodynamic ships weren't up to snuff, so they scrapped and took 4 steps backwards design-wise to create the ships in IV, V and VI.
OK, I'm done ranting....
They're well within their rights to protest the game as far as I'm concerned, the VA and/or local commanders may have other views. I however, do not agree with them and believe part of making an informed decision about joining the military should not in the least be influenced by playing an "Army Simulation". Get information from every source you can about joining BEFORE your sign up, choose a path that suits you and your talents and go from there. War is not a game, it's not a joke, but it exists regardless of whether you want it to or not. The game exists and whether or not it is designed to be a "simulator" which with today's technology could only loosely be called a "simulation", or just a game for fun's sake, is beside point. I say let it go...
The PS3 can work with the PSP to allow remote play. You put your game into your PS3, put it in suspend or hibernate (or whatever the hell they call it), then you go somewhere with wi-fi, fire up your PSP and connect back to your PS3 and play the game. Check out this link which shows a video of the game in action and another description of it:
t e-play/
http://www.psp-hacks.com/2007/09/02/lair-psp-remo
Personally I don't care too much for the PS3 as a whole, price and lack of games being the two biggest issues, but if Sony or Microsoft could figure out a way to make this work for all kinds of games (not just Lair), or better still, incorporate real online multiplayer capabilities, that would make me buy one REGARDLESS of price. Sony taking a hit on these PS3's has so far managed to make them offer a technically superior product at a (hopefully) decreasing price and tying it into their portable player, which I think is a very good thing!
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Why bother telling them which OS you run if it's anything *other* than what came pre-loaded on the system? If I had a hardware issue, big or small, and I called Tech Support for a place like Dell, HP/Compaq, etc, and they asked what I was running for an OS I'd happily lie to them and tell them it was Windows XP or whatever came pre-loaded.
It's the same thing dealing with Tech Support idiots in other countries who can't deviate from a script. They ask if I've done X, Y, Z and I gladly pretend as though I'm going through those exact steps until I reach the point in their script where they either need to escalate the issue or issue an RMA or pickup for repairs.
I'm not saying this lady is an idiot, but come on, have some common sense!!! If you call some PC manufacturer with a hardware issue, and they ask you what OS you're running, tell em' it's all stock. Same with cars. These companies work hard to fuck you out of your money and would love to dismiss your claim for support (however warranted), for any reason they can.
In short: "...If someone asks you if you're a God, you say YES!!!"
Oh and for the record, any "race car driver wannabee" worth his salt knows that GTA is NOT a racing game. Yeah it's got cars in it and yes you can drive them with reckless abandon, but for me, that's not *racing*.
Anyone want to hit me up in PGR3 or Forza2 when it comes out, my gamertag is: orbus451
Sounds reasonable from a business standpoint, BUT, I'll bet it costs a lot less to have some people in India pick up the phone and go through the refund process and effectively sidestep the whole issue than it would be to make a refund process easy and effective. Why not then, just offer a credit. Option one - new dell pc, you select "no windows" or "no O/S" they give you a credit of say $40 off the price, optione two - new dell pc, you select "no O/S, credit towards peripherals" they give you a credit of $60 that CAN ONLY be used as an avenue to sell you other crap or to put towards other crap, be it speakers, upgraded mice, more memory, printer of the week, etc... that way you get more for your dollar, you get an upgraded machine and/or peripheral for less money, everyone goes home happy??? Sounds good to me! I think there's quite a few people out there that'd be happy to have a PC with no O/S on, that they could then take to their friendly neighborhood tech guy or family member to install Win2K, or a cracked version of XP for 1/2 of what it'd cost in time and hardship to try and get any cash out of Dell directly as opposed to them just buying the system without the fuss, with the extra money saved put towards something else that Dell immediately gets the sale on. The credit in option two above would be a one time deal, not something people could just sit on... Anyway, just an idea.
Is it Microsoft or Dell themselves that *require* you to purchase one of their PC's with an O/S? If it's up to Dell at all, my suggestion to them would be to just have that as an option when ordering via phone or internet. Subtract whatever minimal amount they want and thereby save us and them some grief and some money in the process.
What a bunch of shit. People would/should feel bad about kicking dogs and other helpless animals because animals have feelings. Animals can sense danger and usually react instinctively to protect themselves. How would a robot know that it was actually being attacked, hurt or degraded? It would have to be "programmed" to know that such an action had occurred and then have a programmed response (i.e. self-defense, cry out as if in physical pain, march in protest on Washington). When we have sufficient knowledge to create robots that are self aware, self taught, self learning AND have the ability to feel and think emotionally, not just instinctively, then, and only then, should we give a shit what "rights" robots have as an organism. We can't even give all the humans on this fucking planet the same "rights" and we're talking about being worried about giving robots their rights because someone might kick the ever living shit out of an Aibo??? The whole issue seems pretty silly right now.
Will spraying perfume on a pile of shit make it smell better??? For a few moments... but in the end, it's still a pile of shit.
Here's an idea that might or might not have already been written about.
What if the Voyager (or any man-made probe) passed this *unknown* point in space, got sucked into a blackhole and dumped to another part
of space time entirely. So far forward, backward or elsewhere in time/space that it was discovered by Aliens, who subsequently came to our planet to check things out.
But they arrive in our primordial past and populate the Earth with a hybrid alien/animal mix. Making what would eventually become us humans?
Yes I know, far fetched and whatnot, but like I said, just an idea... and a question in there somewhere.